Military of the medieval Swahili?

[treb]

What was the military capability of the East African sultanates in the high middle ages? Presumably they must have had military forces to project power and protect their trade yet I can find little to nothing on the subject.

 

[Abdul Goatherd]

What was the military capability of the East African sultanates in the high middle ages? Presumably they must have had military forces to project power and protect their trade yet I can find little to nothing on the subject.

From what I can gather, not much in itself. They were typical commercial powers, flush with wealth and defended by natural barriers and fortifications. From the military conflicts I have read about from 15th-16th C., they typically relied on Bantu mercenaries from the mainland.

It doesn't seem they had any military projection inland. Their typical conflicts were primarily among themselves (e.g. the perennial Mombassa vs. Malindi), which were usually conducted in the form of landward sieges and naval blockades, with the landward attacks and defenses both manned by Bantu mercenaries/clients/allies. But I don't recall any successes - the cities were sufficiently well-protected to withstand sieges, but at the same time very vulnerable to trade disruptions (they were not self-sufficient in food) and so matters were usually resolved by treaty. You don't really hear of outright conquests.

When things get nasty it is usually internal conflicts, between armed factions inside the city. Think your typical Italian Guelf vs. Ghibelline noble family fights, transplanted to East Africa. Certainly by the late 15th C., the ruling sultan was largely nominal and real power was held by wealthy families. So one faction takes control, expels the other, other returns (often with mercenaries), uses connections to break into city, expels the other, etc. Urban fights in Swahili cities could get really messy. No single family truly controlled the city, so they would just entrench themselves in their "home" quarters and their armed partisans would take to the streets and beat each other up. The urban block-by-block fighting could get very destructive of city life. You hear of regular citizens just fleeing en masse to the mainland and waiting the conflict out.